Medical colleges to focus on practicals

Medical colleges to focus on practicals

TIMES NEWS NETWORK

01.12.2020

Bengaluru: Colleges affiliated to Rajiv Gandhi University of Health Sciences (RGUHS) will reopen for physical classes on Tuesday and while medical colleges will kick off practical and clinical sessions, some dental and pharmacy colleges have scheduled exams and may not resume regular classes immediately.

To ensure social distancing, colleges plan to divide students into batches of 20 or 30 for practical classes. “We have about 130 students in a batch,” said Dr Sanikop Mallikarjun, principal, Oxford Medical College. “We plan to make groups of 27 for practicals. Each group can remain in a single department for the entire day. Most theory portions were covered through online classes, so the focus will be on practicals.”

Jayanti C R, director, Bangalore Medical College and Research Institute, said the emphasis will be on first and final year students as they have exams coming up. Buses have been arranged to pick and drop students.

“Most hostel students are back. Students of other batches have also started trickling in. We will make batches of 20 for practicals,” she said.

Dr VT Venkatesh, principal, Kempegowda Institute of Medical Sciences, said they plan to have 2-3 faculty in practical classes so that students can be taught in smaller groups.

“The number of Covid-19 cases has fallen so there should be more non-Covid patients as well,” said Dr Venkatesh. “Students can examine these patients and learn. They have missed out on practical exposure for so long.”

Meanwhile, many dental colleges have exams under way. “The exams are under way and only odd batches are free now. Their numbers are very small. Physical classes will resume after the exams,” said Dr Asha R, principal, RV Dental College.

Dr Ramachandra Shetty, principal of Government College of Pharmacy, which has also scheduled exams, said classes could start only by the end of December or January.

Poor social distancing

Hostel students, however, claimed social distancing has been poor especially in common areas. “We have common mess and toilets so Covid protocols are hard to abide by,” said a final year MBBS student of a medical college in Tumkur. Some colleges do not allow students to step out as a precaution.

Many international students will have to skip classes and exams over. “I cannot travel to India for my exams due to lack of flights,” said an MBBS student who is currently in Malaysia.

SAFE APPROACH: Dental and pharmacy colleges have scheduled exams and will begin regular classes later this month

While we have given students the option of online classes, all those who have practicals have to report to college. All affiliated colleges can reopen. We’ll know the attendance only once the first-day ends

Dr S Sacchidanand VC, RGUHS